Fire-escape.



I W. I. LAKE.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION mum 1111.9, 1911.

1,001,865, 1 Patented Aug. 29, 1911.

WILLIAM I. LAKE, F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

FIRE-ESCAPE. H

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 9, 1911.

Patented Aug. 29, 1911'.

Serial No. 601,653.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM I. LAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in fire escapes, and in particular to those which are applied to the outside of buildings and become operative only when so desired by the inmates.

A peculiar advantage of the device is that it does not allow of the easy access to a house by burglars and such, as is the case in so many of the ordinary type of fire escapes.

With the above and other objects in view, this invention resides in the novel features of construction, formations, combinations and arrangements of parts to be hereinafter more fully described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the device in normal position; Fig. 2 is a side elevation, dotted figure showing spring platform on the ground, and Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the spring clip.

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, the numeral 1 represents a perpendicular rod or cable, fastened at a suitable distance from the walls of a house 2, by means of brackets or supports 3, a turn buckle 15 being provided to keep the rod or cable at the proper tension. This cable or rod passes directly in front of the windows of the building, and is surrounded at each window by a balcony 4:, provided with a suitable hole in the middle of sufficient diameter to allow a body to pass through and thus slide down on the cable. Slidably mounted on this cable is a platform, composed of an upper section 5 and lower section 6, separated by a plurality of coil springs 7. The upper side of the platform 50\ is covered with a cushioning material 8 to lassistin breaking the fall. The platform is normally held up against the lower side of the first story balcony 4 by means of spring retained clips 9. The clips are formed of upright members 10, suitably formed at their lower extremities to engage with the lower edge of the platform 6, the upper end being normally held upward by means of coil springs 11 fastened to brackets 12, which are in turn fixed on the balcony 4;. The uprights 10 are pivoted on cross bars 18 fastened to their centers, the ends of said cross bars being journaled in brackets 14, which are attached to the under side of the balcony 4 and held rigid by means of brace rods 16. From this it will be seen that the compound spring platform formed by the two pieces 5 and 6, when slid upward on the cable 1, will be engaged and retained against the lower side of the balcony 4 by means of the spring extended clips 9.

In case of fire a person will step out on the balcony 4:, grasping the cable and slide down same, striking against the upper part of the platform 5, disengaging same from the spring extended clips 9, causing it to fall to the bottom of the cable and provide a suitable spring cushion to break the fall and prevent injury to the person.

Having thus fully described this invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A. fire escape such as described, consisting of a guide cable retained by brackets at a suitable distance from the wall of a building, a platform composed of an upper and lower section held apart by a multiplicity of coil springs, said platform slidably engaging the cable which passes through the center of the platform, and spring-extended clips to retain the platform normally at a predetermined distance from the ground.

2. A fire escape such as described, consisting of a guide cable retained by brackets at a suitable distance from the wall of a building, a platform composed of upper and lower sections held apart by a multiplicity of coil springs, said platform slidably engaging the guide cable which passes through the center of the platform, and clips composed of perpendicular members the lower ends of which en m e the In testilnon WhereOfI afliX no si nature u l 0 a u b platform, said members belng plvoted at 1n presence of two wltnesses.

their centers and their u 3 er ends held outward by means of coil s rings, the lower WILLIAM LAKE ends thus being forced against the under WVitnesses:

edge of the platform and serve to hold same CHAS. Gm'r'rs,

in place until forcibly dislodged. MEYER A. PEREIRA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

